OF  THE 


faparg  mh  ©I|?  fap^s 


Condensed  from  the  Large  Book  of 
LOUIS  DeCORMENIN 

BY  THOS.  E.  WATSON 


(^C.W  ' 


Published  by 

THE  TOM  WATSON  BOOK  COMPANY,  INC. 

Thomson,  Ga. 


A  Short  History  of  the  Papacy  and  the  Popes 


Condensed  from  the  Large  Work  of  Louis  DeCormenin 

We  begin  at  the  epoch  when  Constantine  placed  Chris- 
tianity upon  the  throne. 

Constantius  Chlorus  had  a  Christian  concubine,  the  mother 
of  Constantine,  and  known  as  Saint  Helena.  Caesar  Constan- 
tius Chlorus  died  at  York,  in  England,  at  a  time  when  the 
children,  whom  he  had  by  the  daughter  of  Maximilian  Her- 
cules, his  legitimate  wife,  could  make  no  pretensions  to  the 
empire.  Constantine,  the  son  of  his  concubine,  was  chosen 
emperor  by  six  thousand  German,  Gallician,  and  British  sol- 
diers. This  election,  made  by  the  soldiery,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  senate  and  Roman  people,  was  ratified  by  his 
victory  over  Maxentius,  (A.  D.  313)  chosen  emperor  at  Rome, 
— and  Constantine  mounted  a  throne  soiled  with  murders. 

An  execrable  parricide,  he  put  to  death  the  two  Licinii,  the 
husband  and  son  of  his  sister;  he  did  not  even  spare  his  own 
children,  and  the  Empress  Fausta,  the  wife  of  this  monster, 
was  strangled  by  his  orders,  in  a  bath.  He  then  consulted  the 
pontiffs  of  the  empire,  to  know  what  sacrifices  he  should 
offer  to  the  gods  in  order  to  make  expiation  for  his  crime. 
The  sacrificing  priests  refused  his  offerings,  and  he  was  re- 
pulsed with  horror  by  the  high  priest,  who  exclaimed,  "Far 
from  hence  be  parricides,  whom  the  gods  never  pardon." 
After  this,  a  priest  promised  him  pardon  for  his  crimes,  if  he 
should  become  purified  in  the  water  of  baptism,  and  the 
emperor  became  a  Christian. 

He  then  left  Rome,  and  founded  his  new  capital  of  Con- 
stantinople. During  his  reign  the  ministers  of  the  Christian 
religion  commenced  showing  their  ambition,  which  had  been 
concealed  durng  three  centuries.  Assured  of  immunity,  they 
cast  the  wife  of  Maxentius  into  the  Orontes,  murdered  his 
relatives,  massacred  the  magistrates  in  Egypt  and  Palestine, 
drew  from  their  retreat  the  widow  and  daughter  of  Diocle- 
tian, and  threw  them  into  the  sea. 

Constantine  assembles  the  council  of  Nice,  exiles  Arius,  re- 
calls him,  banishes  Athanasius,  and  dies  in  the  arms  of 
Eusebius,  the  chief  of  the  Arians,  having  been  baptized  on 
the  bed  of  death,  in  order  to  escape  the  torments  of  hell. 


589152 


Constans,  the  son  and  successor  of  Constantine,  imitates 
all  his  barbarity;  like  him,  he  assembles  councils,  which  pro- 
scribe and  anathematise.  Athanasius  sustains  his  party  in 
Europe  and  Asia  by  combined  skill  and  force;  the  Arians 
overwhelmed  him.  Exiles,  prisons,  tumults  and  assassina- 
tions signalize  the  termination  of  the  abominable  life  of  Con- 
stans. 

Jovian  and  Valentinian  guarantee  entire  liberty  of  con- 
science. The  two  parties  exercise  against  each  other  hatred 
and  merciless  rage. 

Theodosius  declares  for  the  council  of  Nice.  The  empress 
Justine,  who  reigned  in  Illyria  and  Africa,  as  the  tutoress  of 
the  young  Valentian,  proscribes  him. 

The  Goths,  Vandals,  Burgundians  and  Franks,  hurl  them- 
selves upon  the  provinces  of  the  empire;  they  find  the  opin- 
ions of  Arius  established  in  them,  and  the  conquerors  em- 
brace the  religion  of  the  conquered. 

The  pope  Anastasius  calms,  by  his  justice  and  toleration, 
the  religious  quarrels  which  separate  the  churches  of  the 
East  and  the  West;  but  the  hatred  of  the  priests  soon  termi- 
nated, by  crime,  a  life  which  had  been  glorious  for  religion, 
and  dear  to  humanity. 

Mahomet  appeared  in  the  seventh  century.  A  skilful  im- 
postor, he  founds  a  new  religion,  and  the  greatest  empire  of 
the  world.  Banished  from  Mecca,  he  re-assembles  his  disci- 
ples, establishes  the  foundation  of  his  theogony,  and  marches 
to  the  most  surprising  conquests. 

The  Christians  were  divided  by  gross  heresies.  The  Per- 
sians made  a  trrible  war  on  the  empire  of  the  east,  and  pur- 
sued Jews  and  Catholics  with  an  implacable  hatred.  All  was 
confusion  in  church  and  state. 

The  bishops  had  not  yet  arrogated  to  themselves  temporal 
jurisdiction;  but  the  weakness  of  the  empire  of  the  west  gave 
rise  to  this  scandalous  usurpation,  which  has  covered  Europe 
with  butcheries,  disasters,  and  ruin. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  TEMPORyVL  POWER. 

Pepin,  King  of  France,  allies  himself  in  succession  with 
Popes  Zachary  and  Stephen.  In  order  to- cloak  from  the  eyes 
of  the  people  his  usurpation  of  the  crown  of  France,  and  the 
murder  of  his  brother,  he  surrenders  to  the  Holy  Sec  the 
domains  in  Romagna,  taken  from  the  Lombards. 

Stephen  the  Third,  an  hypocritical  priest,  does  not  delay 
to  signalize  his  new  power,  b}"  the  excess  of  the  most  fright- 
ful ambition. 

Under  Stephen  the  Sixth,  fury  is  at  its  height.  The  clcrg\' 


Southern  Pamphlets 

R^e  Boole  Collection 

U^C-Chapel  mu 


are  divided  into  factions,  and  the  pope  is  chosen  in  the  midst 
of  the  carnage.  The  pontiff,  after  his  victory,  put  out  the 
eyes,  and  tore  out  the  tongue,  of  Constantine  the  Second,  his 
predecessor. 

Charlemagne  invades  Lombardy;  deprives  his  nephews  of 
their  inheritance;  despoils  his  brother-in-law  to  punish  him 
for  having  undertaken  their  defense,  carries  him  to  Lyons  in 
chains,  and  condemns  him  to  terminate  his  days  in  prison. 
Then  Leo  the  Third  placed  a  crown  of  gold  upon  his  head, 
and  a  mantle  of  purple  on  his  shoulders.  But  the  descend- 
ants of  Charlemagne  could  not  preserve  at  Rome  the  influ- 
ence this  usurper  had  acquired,  by  granting  to  the  popes  the 
land  he  had  taken  from  the  Lombards. 

Paschal  the  First,  by  a  criminal  boldness,  put  out  the  eyes 
and  cut  off  the  heads,  in  the  patriarchal  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran,  of  Theodorus,  a  high  officer  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
of  Leo,  his  son-in-law%  because  they  had  remained  faithful  to 
Lothaire.  On  the  death  of  this  pope  the  people  endeavored 
to  prevent  his  burial,  and  wished  to  drag  his  body  through 
the  streets  of  Rome. 

Eugenius,  his  successor,  occupies  himself  in  transporting 
from  the  sepulchres  of  Italy  putrefied  bones,  the  frightful 
vestiges  of  human  nature.  He  sent  them  into  France,  Ger- 
many and  England,  and  sold  them  to  Christian  Europe. 

Leo  the  Fourth  has  the  impudence  to  assure  the  bishops 
of  immunity  for  the  most  frightful  crimes. 

THE   FEMALE   POPE,   JOAN. 

After  the  death  of  Leo,  a  woman  mounts  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter,  celebrating  mass,  creating  bishops,  and  giving  her  feet 
to  be  kissed  by  princes  and  people.  The  popess  Joan  be- 
comes enciente  by  a  cardinal,  and  dies  in  the  pangs  of  child- 
birth, in  the  midst  of  a  religious  ceremony. 

In  the  ninth  century,  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  sepa- 
rate. Ridiculous  differences  cause  five  centuries  of  murders, 
carnage,  and  frightful  wars;  and  twenty-five  bloody  schisms 
in  the  west  soil  the  chair  of  Rome. 

The  Arabs  and  Turks  overwhelm  the  Greek  and  African 
churches,  and  elevate  the  Mahommedan  religion  upon  the 
ruins  of  Christianity. 

The  Roman  church  maintains  itself,  amid  troubles,  dis- 
cords and  ruin.  During  this  epoch  of  anarchy,  the  bishops 
and  abbots  in  Germany  became  princes,  and  the  popes  ob- 
tain absolute  power  in  Rome. 


A  LIVING  POPE  TRIES   A  DEAD  ONE. 

Stephen  the  Seventh,  driven  on  by  a  pitiless  rage,  orders 
the  sepulchre  of  Forinosus  to  be  despoiled,  causes  them  to 
take  out  from  it  the  dead  body,  and,  horrible  to  relate,  has 
it  brought  into  the  synod  assembly  to  degrade  him.  Then 
this  frightful  body,  covered  with  the  pontifical  habits,  is  in- 
terrogated in  the  midst  of  scandalous  and  infuriate  clamour. 
"Why  hast  thou,  being  bishop  of  Portus,  usurped,  through 
ambition,  the  universal  See  of  Rome?"  Then  the  pope, 
pushed  on  by  an  execrable  barbarity,  orders  his  three  fingers 
and  head  to  be  cut  of!',  and  his  dead  body  to  be  cast  into  the 
Tiber. 

Sergius  invades  the  pontifical  chair.  He  leads  publicly  a 
life,  soiled  with  debaucheries,  wath  the  famous  courtezan 
Marozia.  Their  son  becomes  pope,  under  the  name  of  John 
the  Twelfth,  and  surpasses  them  by  his  monstrous  crimes. 
Cardinals  and  bishops  accused  him  of  incest  with  his  mother 
— of  violating  the  holy  virgins — of  adultery,  homicide,  pro- 
fanity, and  blasphemy. 

Gregory  the  Fifth  cuts  off  the  hands,  tongue  and  ears  of 
John  and  Crescentius,  and  makes  them  walk,  thus  mutilated, 
through  the  streets  of  Rome. 

THE  BOY  POPE. 

Benedict  the  Ninth  is  raised  to  the  Holy  See  at  twelve 
years  of  age,  by  the  intrigues  and  gold  of  the  Count  of  Tus- 
canclla.  He  immediately  surrenders  himself  to  excess  of  de- 
pravity, and  the  most  shameful  debaucheries.  The  Romans, 
worn  out  by  his  outrages,  drive  him  from  Rome,  and  name 
another  pope,  Sylvester  the  Third.  Benedict,  by  the  assist- 
ance of  his  relatives,  seats  himself  anew  in  the  Holy  See;  but 
perceiving  himself  to  be  an  object  of  universal  execration, 
and  fearing  a  terrible  fall,  he,  by  an  infamous  simony,  sells 
the  Holy  See,  and  consecrates  a  third  pope,  John  the  Twen- 
tieth. He  then  retires  into  the  palace  of  his  father,  in  order 
to  surrender  himself  to  the  most  infamous  pleasures. 

After  having  made  this  odious  traffic,  the  desire  of  ruling 
re-enters  his  soul,  and  places  him  a  third  time  in  his  dishon- 
oured chair.  Alone,  against  the  Romans,  who  held  him  in 
horror — alone,  against  two  popes,  producing  a  triple  schism 
— he  proposes  to  his  adversaries  to  divide  between  them  the 
revenues  of  the  church — -. 

THREE  POPES  AT  ONCE. 

These  three  anti-popes,  by  a  shameful  traffic,  divide  into 
three  jKirls  [hv  i)atriniony  of  the  poor,  and  boldly  rule;  the 


one  at  Saint  Peter's,  the  other  at  St.  Mary  Majeura,  and  the 
third  at  the  palace  of  the  Lateran;  an  execrable  triumvirate. 

A  bold,  avaricious  and  dissolute  priest,  purchases  from  the 
three  popes  their  infamous  titles  to  the  papacy,  and  succeeds 
them  under  the  name  of  Gregory  the  Sixth. 

Hildebrand,  the  monk  of  Cluny,  the  poisoner  ot  popes, 
the  most  deceitful  of  priests,  usurps  the  pontifical  see,  under 
the  name  of  Gregory  the  Seventh.  He  launches  his  anathe- 
mas against  kings;  excites  public  wars;  fills  Germany  and 
Italy  with  disorder,  carnage  and  murder.  He  excommuni- 
cates the  emperor  of  Germany;  takes  from  him  the  title  of 
king;  frees  his  people  from  the  oath  of  obedience;  excites 
princes  against  him,  and  at  last  reduces  him  to  such  a  state 
of  misfortune  that  the  force  of  his  mind  is  shattered.  At 
length— extreme  of  pride  and  degradation— the  king  sought 
the  pope  "in  the  depth  of  winter,  fasting,  with  naked  feet 
and  in  his  shirt,  having  a  pair  of  scissors  and  a  hair-brush  in 
his  hand." 

THE   ONLY   ENGLISH   POPE. 

Adrian,  the  son  of  an  English  friar,  causes  the  emperor 
Barbarossa  to  hold  the  stirrup  of  his  palfrey;  and  in  order  to 
add  barbaritv  to  his  triumph,  demands  that  the  famous  Ar- 
nold of  Brescia  should  be  delivered  up  to  him  to  be  burned 
alive,  because  he  had  preached  against  the  luxui^y  of  priests, 
and  the  abominations  of  pontiffs. 

Alexander  pushes  still  further  than  his  predecessors  his 
outrages  against  kings.  The  emperor  Frederick,  in  order  to 
free  his  son  Otho,  who  was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the 
Romans,  supplicates  the  pope  to  absolve  him  from  excom- 
munication. The  inflexible  Alexander  demands  that  the  em- 
peror should  come  in  person  to  ask  for  his  pardon,  in  the 
presence  of  the  assembled  people,  without  his  robes  or  his 
crown,  having  the  rod  of  a  beadle  in  his  hand,  and  that  he 
should  prostrate  his  face  to  the  earth.  When  he  was  ex- 
tended on  the  ground  at  the  entrance  of  the  church,  Alex- 
ander put  his  foot  on  his  neck  and  trampled  on  him,  ex- 
claiming, "Thou  shalt  tread  upon  the  serpent  and  the  cock- 
atrice, and  shalt  crush  the  lion  and  the  dragon." 

Celestin  the  Third  affords  a  frightful  example  of  insatiable 
avarice.  Alexander  had  trampled  under  his  feet  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  who  demanded  the  liberation  of  his  son.  This 
new  pope,  for  money,  crowned  the  emperor  Henry  the 
Fourth,  an  execrable  monster,  who  renewed  the  impious  sac- 
rilege of  Stephen  the  Seventh,  by  exhuming  the  body  of  Tan- 
cred,  that  his  head  should  be  cut  off  by  the  pubhc  execu- 
tioner.    He  put  out  the  eyes  of  William,  the  young  son  of 


8 

Tancred,  after  having  made  him  an  eunuch.  He  condemned 
the  count  Jourdan  to  an  horrible  punishment,  having  caused 
him  to  be  affixed  to  a  chain  of  heated  iron,  and  to  be  crown- 
ed by  a  circle  of  hot  iron,  which  they  fastened  on  his  head. 

POPE  INNOCENT  MASSACRES  THE  ALBIGENSES  AND  THE  WALDENSES. 

Innocent  the  Third  preached  the  crusades  against  the  in- 
fidel, and  increased  his  treasury  from  the  riches  of  the  peo- 
ple. This  crafty,  sacrilegious  pope,  established  the  monstrous 
tribunal  of  the  inquisition.  Then  he  preached  a  crusade 
against  the  Albigenses,  and  despoiled  the  estates  of  Ray- 
mond the  Sixth,  count  of  Toulouse.  He  sent  forth  St.  Domi- 
nick  with  powder  to  persecute  with  fire,  sword,  and  unheard- 
of  torments,  the  unfortunate  Waldenses.  The  crusaders 
stormed  the  city  of  Beziers.  The  frightful  Dominick,  Christ 
in  one  hand  and  a  torch  in  the  other,  creates  the  carnage,  and 
sixty  thousand  dead  bodies  were  buried  under  the  ruins  of 
that  city,  which  was  reduced  to  ashes.  Toulouse,  Carcas- 
sonne, Alby,  Castlenaudary,  Narbonne,  Aries,  Marseilles,  Aix, 
Avignon,  were  devastated  by  the  armies  of  the  pope. 

Gregory  the  Ninth,  in  order  to  maintain  his  ambitious 
projects  and  the  unbridled  luxury  of  his  court,  levies  imposts 
on  France,  England  and  Germany.  He  excommunicates 
kings,  frees  people  from  their  allegiance,  and  is  driven  from 
Rome  by  his  subjects.  Raymond  the  Seventh,  though  a 
Catholic,  but  the  son  of  a  heretic,  is  pursued  by  him  and  de- 
spoiled of  his  estates.  The  pope  sends  a  legate  into  France, 
to  sustain  this  abominable  war  in  Languedoc  and  Provence. 
Raymond  defends  himself  gallantly;  and  the  people,  tired  of 
the  insatiable  avarice  of  Gregory  the  Ninth,  refuse  to  pay  the 
imposts,  and  force  the  pope  to  conclude  a  peace. 

The  pontiff,  arrested  in  his  progress,  condemns  Raymond 
to  pay  ten  thousand  marks  of  silver  to  his  legate,  two  thou- 
sand to  the  abbey  of  Citeaux,  a  thousand  to  that  of  Grand 
Ligne,  and  three  hundred  to  that  of  Pelle  Pouche,  all  for  the 
remission  of  his  sins,  as  the  treaty  signed  at  the  door  of  the 
cathedral  of  Paris  witnesses. 

Innocent  the  Fourth,  in  the  midst  of  his  crimes  performed 
a  generous  action,  which  reconciles  humanity  to  him.  He 
undertakes  the  defence  of  the  Jews  of  Germany,  whom  the 
princes  and  priests  persecuted,  in  order  to  enrich  themselves 
with  their  spoils.  In  that  barbarous  age,  a  false  zeal  for  re- 
ligion served  as  a  pretext  for  the  most  revolting  injustice. 
They  invented  calumnies  against  the  Jews,  accused  them  of 
eating  the  heart  of  a  new-born  infant  at  the  passover  supper; 
and,  when  they  found  the  body  of  a  dead  man,  they  put  them 


to  the  torture,  and  condemned  them  to  perish  by  the  most 
frightful  torments.  -.u  c*    t 

Uran  the  Fourth  signs  a  shameless  treaty  with  ^)t.  l^ouis 
and  Charles  of  Anjou,  to  enrich  themselves  with  the  kmgdom 
of  Naples,  and  divide  the  estates  of  the  young  Conradm.  The 
pope  overcomes  the  scruples  of  the  king  of  France,  and 
causes  the  duke  of  Anjou  to  swear  that  he  will  abandon  to 
the  Holy  See  the  domains  to  which  he  laid  pretensions,  and 
pay  eight  thousand  ounces  of  gold  every  year. 

Clement  the  Fourth  continues  the  policy  of  his  predeces- 
sor. The  young  Conradin  returns  to  his  estates,  and  fights  a 
decisive  battle,  and  is  made  prisoner,  together  with  Frede- 
risk  of  Austria.  After  a  rigorous  captivity,  Charles  of  Anjou, 
bv  the  order  of  the  pope,  condemns  them  to  perish  by  the 
hand  of  the  executioner.  The  young  duke  of  Austria  was  the 
first  executed.  Conradin  seized  the  head  of  his  friend,  and 
received  the  mortal  blow  holding  it  in  his  embrace. 

Martin  the  Fourth  mounts  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  makes 
a  sacrilegious  agreement  with  Charles  of  Anjou;  the  one  a 
political  typrant;  the  crafty  usurper  of  Sicily;  the  other  the 
consecrated  tyrant  of  Rome.  Their  cruelties  excite  general 
indignation.  A  vast  conspiracy  is  formed;  John  of  Procida, 
a  Sicilian  gentleman,  is  the  soul  of  it.  He  engages  Michael 
Paleologus  to  join  it;  goes  to  Spain  to  obtain  the  aid  of  Peter 
of  Arragon,  and  hastens  through  the  cities  of  Sicily  to  excite 
their  minds  to  vengeance. 

"the   SICILIAN   VESPERS." 

On  the  third  day  of  Easter,  1282,  at  the  hour  of  vespers, 
is  the  signal  for  the  carnage  given.  At  the  sound  of  the  bell, 
a  cry  of  death  resounds  through  all  the  cities  of  Sicily.  The 
French  are  massacred  in  the  churches,  in  the  public  places, 
and  in  private  houses;  everywhere  is  murder  and  vengeance 
Ten  thousand  dead  bodies  are  the  trophies  of  the  Sicihan 
vespers. 

Boniface  the  Eighth  becomes  pope,  after  having  assassi- 
nated his  predecessor.  He  outrages  the  people,  defies  kings, 
pursues  with  hatred  the  Ghibehns,  the  partizans  of  the  em- 
peror of  Germany,  invents  the  jubilee  to  draw  the  wealth  of 
the  nations  into  his  treasury,  and  excites  so  profound  a  ha- 
tred against  himself  that  the  states  assemble  at  Paris,  by 
order  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  to  judge  the  pope.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Narbonne  accuses  him  of  being  a  simoniac,  an  as- 
sassin, and  an  usurper;  of  not  believing  in  the  eucharist,  nor 
the  immortality  of  the  soul;  of  employing  force  to  cause  the 
secrets  of  the  confessional  to  be  revealed;  of  living  in  con- 
cubinage with  his  two  nieces,  and  of  having  children  by 


10 

them;  and,  last  of  all,  of  having  employed  the  riches  ac- 
quired by  the  sale  of  indulgences  to  pay  the  Saracens  to  in- 
vade Sicily. 

POPE  BONIFACE  ASSAULTED:   DIES  OF  RAGE. 

Nogaret  and  Sciara  Colonna  are  charged  to  carry  to  the 
pope  the  order  to  appear  at  Lj^ons  to  be  judged  by  a  general 
council.  They  arrive,  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  horse- 
men, at  the  city  of  Anagni,  the  residence  of  Boniface.  Meeting 
with  resistance  they  force  an  entrance  into  the  palace,  and 
present  to  the  pope  the  accusations  against  him.  Boniface, 
transported  by  fury,  charges  Nogaret  with  injuring  him,  and 
curses  the  king  of  France  and  his  descendants  to  the  fourth 
generation.  Then  Sciara  Colonna  struck  him  in  the  face 
with  his  iron  gauntlet,  until  the  blood  flew. 

Clement  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the  Handsome  accuse  the 
Templars  of  enormous  crimes,  and  condemn  them  to  the 
most  frightful  punishments,  in  order  to  enrich  themselves 
with  their  immense  wealth.  By  the  order  of  the  king,  the 
grand  master  of  the  Templars,  accompanied  by  his  knights, 
is  conducted  to  punishment,  to  be  burned  alive  in  the  pres- 
ence of  cardinals  and  priests,  who  cruelly  contemplate  these 
bloody  stakes. 

After  having  divided  with  the  king  the  spoils  of  the  Tem- 
plars, Clement  the  Fifth  established  his  court  at  Avignon, 
and  publicly  abandoned  himself  to  the  most  depraved  de- 
bauchery, with  his  nephew  and  the  daughter  of  the  Count  de 
Foiy.  He  preached  a  new  crusade  against  the  Turks,  sold 
indulgences,  and,  joining  ridicule  to  infamy,  gave  to  each 
crusader  the  right  of  delivering  four  souls  from  purgatory. 

John  the  Twenty-second  seized  the  tiara,  seated  himself 
on  the  pontifical  throne,  and  said,  "I  am  pope."  In  order  to 
strengthen  this  usurpation,  he  launched  his  anathemas 
against  the  emperor  of  Germany  and  the  king  of  France, 
persecuted  sectarians,  burned  heretics,  freed  people  from 
their  allegiance,  armed  princes,  innudated  kingdoms  with  his 
monks,  preached  new  crusades,  sold  benefices,  and  drew 
into  his  treasury  twenty-five  millions  of  florins,  collected 
from  all  parts  of  the  Christian  world. 

Benedict  the  Twelfth  stops  the  depredations,  arrests  the 
imposts  which  his  predecessor  had  levied  upon  the  people, 
practises  a  severe  mortality,  reforms  the  morals  of  the  clergy 
and  dies  in  the  midst  of  his  apostolical  labours. 

Clement  the  Sixth  buys  from  the  celebrated  Joanna  of 
Naples  the  country  of  Avignon,  promises  therefor  three  hun- 
dred thousand  florins  of  gold,  which  he  never  paid,  and  de- 
clares her  innocent  of  the  murder  of  Andreas,  her  husband. 


11 

whom  she  had  caused  to  be  assassinated. 

TWO  POPES  AT  ONCE. 

Under  Urban  the  Sixth  commenced  the  great  schism  which 
divided  the  west;  two  popes  were  elevated  to  the  pontifical 
chair. 

Urban  the  Sixth  ruled  at  Rome;  Clement  the  Seventh,  the 
anti-pope,  at  Avignon.  During  a  period  of  fifty  years  the 
two  popes  and  their  successors  excited  cruel  wars,  and  ex- 
comnmnicated  each  other.  Italy,  Naples,  Hungary  and  Spain 
espoused  the  cause  of  Urban;  France  sustained  Clement  the 
Seventh.  Everywhere  brigandage  and  cruelty  abounds,  pro- 
duced by  the  order  of  Clement,  or  the  fanaticism  of  Urban. 

The  unfortunate  and  guilty  Joanna  sent  forty  thousand 
ducats  to  the  pope,  in  order  to  strengthen  her  cause.  By  way 
of  thanks.  Urban  caused  her  to  be  strangled  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar.  The  pontiff  had  induced  Charles  de  Duras,  the 
adopted  son  and  heir  of  Joanna,  to  commit  this  horrible 
parricide. 

The  prince,  having  refused  to  divide  with  the  pope  the 
spoils  of  Joanna,  the  fury  of  Urban  was  turned  against  six 
cardinals,  whom  he  supposed  to  form  the  party  of  Charles. 
They  were  thrown,  laden  with  chains,  into  offensive  dun- 
geons; their  eyes  were  put  out,  the  nails  of  their  feet  and 
hands  wrenched  off,  their  teeth  broken,  their  flesh  pierced 
with  rods  of  heated  iron,  and  at  length  their  bodies,  fright- 
fully mutilated,  were  tied  up  in  sacks,  whilst  still  alive,  and 
thrown  into  the  sea. 

THE  POPES  AT  AVIGNON. 

Clement  the  Seventh  held  his  seat  at  Avignon,  and  levied 
enormous  imposts  on  the  church  of  France,  in  order  to  en- 
rich the  cardinals  and  satisfy  the  unbridled  luxury  of  his 
court.  His  conduct  was  not  at  all  inferior  to  that  of  his  com- 
petitor in  violence,  deceit  and  crime. 

The  two  popes  desolated  Europe  by  their  armies  and  those 
of  their  partisans;  fury  had  blotted  out  the  sentiments  of 
humanity;  everywhere  were  treason,  poisoning,  massn-^re. 
An  endeavor  was  made  to  remedy  the  public  calamities,  but 
the  two  popes  opposed  all  propositions  which  could  restore 
peace  to  the  church. 

The  schism  continued  under  their  successors;  the  cardinals 
not  being  able  to  overcome  the  obstinacy  of  the  two  popes, 
cited  Benedict  the  Thirteenth  and  Gregory  the  Twelfth  to 
appear  before  a  general  council,  convened  at  Pisa;  and,  when 


12 

they  refused  to  do  so,  the  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  assisted 
by  those  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem,  pronounced,  with  a  loud 
voice  in  the  church,  whose  doors  were  opened,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  assembled  multitude,  the  definite  sentence  of 
deposition  against  them. 

Alexander  the  Fifth  endeavored  to  strengthen  the  union 
of  the  church,  to  reform  the  morals  of  the  clergy,  to  give  the 
sacred  charges  to  virtuous  men,  and  died  of  a  poisoned  clys- 
ter, administered  by  the  orders  of  the  cardinal  Baltheazar 
Cossa.  This  base  assassin  assembled  the  conclave,  and,  seiz- 
ing the  pontifical  mantle,  placed  it  on  his  shoulders,  exclaim- 
ing, "I  am  the  pope." 

The  affrighted  cardinals  confirmed  the  election  of  John 
the  Twenty-third;  but  the  deposed  popes,  Benedict  the  Thir- 
teenth and  Gregory  the  Twelfth,  revived  their  pretensions  to 
th  See  of  Rome;  an  horrible  war,  excited  by  anathemas,  fills 
Prussia  and  Italy  with  blood.  The  empire  has  three  em- 
perors, as  the  church  has  three  popes,  or  rather  the  church 
and  the  empii-e  have  no  heads. 

A  general  council  assembles,  and  proceeds  to  the  deposi- 
tion of  Pope  John  the  Twenty-third.  The  bishops  and  car- 
dinals accuse  him  of  murders,  incest,  poisoning  and  sodomy; 
of  having  seduced  and  carried  on  a  sacriligious  intercourse 
with  three  hundred  religious  women;  of  having  violated 
three  sisters;  and  of  having  confined  a  whole  family,  in  or- 
der to  abuse  the  mother,  son  and  father. 

THE   COUNCIL   OF   CONSTANCE:    HUSS   AND  JEROME    BURNED. 

Martin  the  Fifth  burned  alive  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of 
Prague,  the  leaders  of  a  new  sect,  which  preached  against 
the  disorders  of  the  priests  and  the  ambition  of  the  pontiffs, 
and  led  men  back  to  sentiments  of  humanity.  He  then  or- 
ganizes a  crusade  against  Bohemia;  but  the  inhabitants  of 
this  wold  country,  exalted  by  generous  principles  of  liberty, 
contend  with  courage  against  fanaticism.  Ambassadors  are 
sent  to  Prague,  with  proposals  for  peace,  and  the  Bohemians 
reply  "that  a  free  people  have  no  need  of  a  king." 

The  legates  of  the  pope  and  the  emperor  command  in  per- 
son the  armies  sent  against  the  Bohemians,  to  prevent  their 
communing  in  the  two  kinds,  bread  and  wine.  Frightful 
madness.  For  a  subject  so  trifling  Germany  is  given  up  to 
the  horrors  of  a  civil  war;  but  the'cause  of  the  people  is  tri- 
umphant. The  troops  of  the  emperor  are  defeated  in  many 
engagements,  and  the  army  of  the  legates  is  cut  to  pieces. 

Rugenius  the  Fourth  mounts  the  Holy  See;  he  confirms 
as  legate  in  Germany  Julian  Caesar,  in  order  to  exercise 
cruel  persecutions  against  the  Hussites.    During  his  reign  an 


important  act  transpires;  a  struggle  takes  place  between  the 
powers  of  the  church,  the  council  of  Basle  endeavors  to 
bring  under  subjection  the  power  of  the  popes,  and  the  pope 
declares  that  his  see  is  beyond  the  reach  of  councils.  The 
fathers  make  a  terrible  decree,  declare  Eugenius  th  Fourth 
a  profanator,  incorrigible,  and  a  scandal  to  the  church,  and 
depose  him  from  the  papacy. 

Felix  the  Fifth  is  nominated  as  pope,  and  Eugenius  be- 
comes the  anti-pope.  The  councils  of  Florence  and  Basle 
excommunicate  each.  Depositions,  violence,  cruelty  suc- 
ceed. Vitteleschi,  archbishop  of  Florence,  is  assassinated  by 
the  order  of  Eugenius;  divided  kingdoms  take  the  part  of 
one  or  the  other,  and  a  schism  is  renewed  which  lasts  until 
the  death  of  Eugenius  the  Fourth. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  the  Fifth,  took  place 
the  celebrated  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks;  the 
pontiff,  solicited  by  the  Grecian  ambassadors  to  grant  them 
succors  of  men  and  money,  harshly  refused,  and  we  must 
attribute  the  loss  of  this  powerful  city  to  the  perfidy  of  the 
Roman  court,  which  sacrificed  the  rampart  of  Christianity, 
and  basely  betrayed  a  people  whom  they  should  have  suc- 
cored. 

The  merits  and  the  piety  of  CaHxtus  the  Third,  elevated 
him  to  the  pontifical  throne,  which  he  honors  by  his  genius. 

Sextus  the  Fourth  employs  all  his  care  and  solicitude  in 
increasing  his  wealth.  He  augments  the  imposts,  invents 
new  charges,  and  sells  them  at  auction  to  satisfy  the  avarice 
of  Peter  Riere,  of  Savana,  and  of  his  brother  Jerome,  whom 
he  had  created  cardinals,  and  who  ministered  to  his  horrid 
pleasures. 

THE  POPE  LICENSES  RROTHELS,  FOR  PAY. 

This  shameless  pope  established  at  Rome  a  brothel,  the 
courtezans  of  which  paid  him  a  golden  Julius  weekly.  This 
revenue  amounted  to  twenty  thousand  ducats  a  year.  An 
execrable  act  committed  by  him  is  alone  sufficient  to  render 
his  memory  forever  odious.  The  family  of  the  cardinal  of 
Saint  Lucia  having  presented  to  him  a  petition,  that  he  (the 
cardinal)  should  be  permitted  to  commit  sodomy  during  the 
three  warmest  months  of  the  year,  he  wrote  at  the  bottom  of 
the  petition,  "Let  it  be  as  desired." 

He  then  formed  a  conspiracy  against  Laurent  and  Julian 
de  Medicis,  sends  Raphael  Riere  to  Florence,  and  during  a 
solemn  mass,  an  whilst  the  cardinal  was  elevating  the  host, 
the  conspirators  stabbed  Julian  de  Medicis.  Laurent  cour- 
ageously defends  himself,  and,  although  wounded,  gains  the 
sacristy.     The  people  precipitate  themselves  upon  the  con- 


14 

spirators,  disarm  them,  and  hang  them  from  the  wii  dows  of 
the  church,  as  well  as  Salviato,  archhishop  of  Pisa,  in  his 
sacerdotal  robes. 

Innocent  the  Eighth  succeeds  Sextus.  His  election  cost 
him  more  than  all  the  treasures  of  the  Holy  See;  the  re- 
sources were  exhausted,  but  the  genius  of  the  pope  remain- 
ed. He  appointed  fifty-two  venders  of  bulls,  whom  he 
charged  to  squeeze  the  people,  and  joined  to  them  twenty-six 
secretaries,  who  each  lodged  with  him  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred marks  of  gold.  His  private  life  was  defiled  by  the  vilest 
scandals.  Educated  at  the  court  of  King  Alphonso,  of  Sicily, 
he  had  contracted  the  frightful  vice  of  sodomy.  His  re- 
markable beauty  had  procured  him  admission  into  the  fam- 
ily of  Philip,  cardinal  of  Bolonga,  as  the  minister  to  his 
monstrous  pleasures.  On  the  death  of  his  protector  he  be- 
came the  minion  of  Paul  the  Second,  and  of  Sextus,  who 
elevated  him  to  the  cardinalship. 

The  grand  master  of  Rhodes  delivered  to  Pope  Innocent 
the  young  prince  Zizimus,  to  protect  him  from  the  pursuit  of 
his  brother  Bajazet.  The  sultan  of  Egypt  sends  ambassadors 
to  offer  to  the  pope  four  hundred  thousand  ducats  and  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  in  exchange  for  Prince  Zizimus,  whom  he 
wishes  to  place  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  in  order  to  march 
against  Constantinople,  and  engages  to  restore  that  city  to 
the  Christians;  but  the  sultan  Bajazet  bid  higher,  and  the 
pontiff  retained  Zizimus  a  prisoner  in  his  states. 

THE  WORST  POPE  OF  ALL. 

We  enter  now  upon  the  reign  of  a  pope  who,  by  the  ad- 
mission of  all  historians,  is  the  most  dreadful  of  all  men  who 
have  affrighted  the  world.  A  depravity  hitherto  unknown, 
an  insatiable  cupidit3%  an  unbridled  ambition,  a  cruelty  more 
than  barbarous — such  were  the  horrid  qualities  of  Roderick 
Borgia,  chosen  pope,  by  the  title  of  Alexander  the  Sixth.  His 
passions  were  so  unbridled  that,  having  become  enamoured 
of  a  widow  who  had  two  daughters,  not  content  with  the 
mother,  he  bent  the  daughters  also  to  his  desires;  he  caused 
one  of  them  to  be  placed  in  a  convent,  and  continued  his 
incest  with  the  most  beautiful,  whom  they  call  Rosa  Van- 
ozza. 

She  bore  him  five  children,  one  of  whom  was  the  famous 
Caesar  Borgia,  who  would  have  surpassed  the  crimes  of  his 
father,  if  the  devil  himself  could  have  equaled  them. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Innocent,  assassins  and  bandits 
had  so  increased  in  number,  that  the  cardinals,  before  enter- 
ing the  conclave,  fortified  their  dwellings  with  musketry,  and 
pointed  cannon  along  the  streets.    Rome  was  become  a  pub- 


15 

lie  market,  where  all  holy  charges  were  for  sale;  Roderick 
Borgia  pubhcly  bought  the  suffragees  of  twenty-two  cardi- 
nals, and  was  proclaimed  pope. 

Armed  with  the  sacerdotal  power,  his  execrable  vices  daily 
increased;  he  delivered  himself  up  to  the  most  monstrous 
incest,  and  horrible  to  relate,  the  two  brothers,  Francis  and 
Caesar,  mingled  their  infamous  pleasures  with  their  father's 
in  the  embraces  of  their  sister  Lucretia. 

The  immoderate  ambition  of  the  pope  knew  no  bounds; 
all  laws,  human  and  divine,  were  trampled  under  foot.  He 
forms  alliances  and  breaks  them;  he  preaches  crusades, 
levies  imposts  in  Christian  kingdoms,  inundates  Europe  with 
his  legions  of  monks,  enriches  himself  with  the  wealth  they 
carry  to  him,  and  calls  Bajazet  into  Italy  to  oppose  the  king 
of  France.  Later,  his  pohcy  causes  him  to  seek  the  aid  of 
Charles;  and,  protected  by  the  French,  he  undertakes  the 
ruin  of  the  petty  sovereigns  of  Romagna.  He  puts  some  to 
death  by  the  dagger,  others  by  poison,  fills  all  minds  with 
dread,  and  prepares  for  Caesar  Borgia  the  absolute  domin- 
ion of  Italy. 

His  insatiable  avarice  invented  the  most  sacriUgious  means 
of  enriching  itself;  he  sold  the  sacred  charges,  the  altars, 
even  Christ  himself,  and  then  took  them  back  again  to  sell 
again  the  second  time.  He  nominated  the  cardinal  of  Mo- 
dena  as  distributor  of  his  graces  and  dispensations;  in  the 
name  of  this  minister  of  iniquity  he  sold  honors,  dignities, 
marriages,  divorces;  and  as  the  simony  of  the  cardinal  did 
not  bring  in  sums  sulliciently  large  to  sustain  the  extrava- 
gance of  the  family  of  Alexander,  he  administered  to  him 
the  fatal  poison  of  the  Borgias,  to  obtain  for  himself  the  im- 
mense riches  which  he  had  amassed. 

He  made  promotions  to  cardinalships,  receiving  payment 
therefor;  then  declaring  the  Holy  See  the  heir  of  the  prop- 
erty of  prelates,  he  poisoned  them,  in  order  to  enrich  him- 
self with  their  spoils.  All  these  crimes  still  did  not  afford 
him  sufficient  money,  and  he  published  that  the  Turks  were 
about  to  wage  war  against  Christianity,  and  under  the  veil 
of  religion  he  extorted  sums  so  enormous  that  they  surpass 
beUef.  At  last  Alexander  the  Sixth,  soiled  with  murders, 
debaucheries  and  monstrous  incests,  having  invited  to  sup 
two  cardinals,  whose  heirs  he  wished  to  become,  took  the 
poison  destined  for  them,  and  rendered  up  his  execrable  soul 
to  the  devil. 

LUTHER  IS  RAISED  UP. 

The  people,  tired  of  the  insupportable  yoke  of  the  bishops 
of  Rome,  and  ruined  by  the  insatiable  avidity  of  the  priests. 


16 

commenced  waking  from  the  lethargic  sleep  into  which  they 
had  been  pkmged.  Luther,  a  monk  of  the  Order  of  the  Au- 
gustines,  sallies  from  his  retreat,  rises  against  Lea  the  Tenth 
and  the  indulgencies,  draws  people  and  rulers  to  his  new 
doctrine,  strengthens  it  with  all  the  power  of  his  genius,  and 
snatches  from  the  tyranny  of  the  popes  the  half  of  Europe. 

Clement  the  Seventh,  by  his  perfidy,  excites  the  wrath  of 
the  emperor,  Charles  the  Fifth.  Rome  is  delivered  up  to  pil- 
lage during  two  entire  months;  houses  are  sacked,  females 
violated.  The  army  of  the  Catholic  king  committed  more 
atrocities  than  the  pagan  tyrants  had  invented  against  the 
Christians  during  three  hundred  years.  The  unfortunate 
Romans  were  suspended  by  the  feet,  burned,  beaten  with 
leather  straps  in  order  to  compel  them  to  pay  ransom;  in 
fine,  they  were  exposed  to  the  most  frightful  punishments,  in 
order  to  expiate  the  crimes  of  their  pontiff. 

Catholics  and  Protestants  cover  Germany  with  embarrass- 
ments, murders  and  ruin. 

The  mass  is  judicially  abolished  at  Strasburg. 

Paul  the  Third  had  obtained  a  cardinal's  hat  by  surren- 
dering Julia  Farnese  to  the  monster  Alexander  the  Sixth; 
became  pope — he  poisoned  his  mother,  in  order  to  enrich 
himself  as  her  heir,  and  joining  a  double  incest  to  a  second 
parricide,  he  put  to  death  one  of  his  sisters  through  jealousy 
of  her  other  lovers,  and  poisoned  Bosa  Sforza,  the  husband 
of  his  daughter  Constance,  whom  he  had  corrupted. 

He  launches  anathemas  against  the  unfortunate  Lutherans. 
His  nephews  became  the  executioners  of  his  cruelties,  and 
they  boasted  publicly  of  having  caused  rivers  of  blood  to 
flow,  in  which  their  horses  could  swim.  During  their  butch- 
eries the  pope  was  plunged  in  his  monstrous  debaucheries 
with  his  daughter  Constance. 

JESUITS   ORGANIZED. 

During  his  reign  Ignatius  Loyola  founds  the  order  of  the 
Jesuits. 

Calvin,  sublime  spirit,  causes  his  powerful  voice  to  be 
heard,  and  continues  the  progress  of  the  religious  reforma- 
tion. 

Julius  the  Third  fulminates  his  nnathemas  against  the 
Lutherans,  and  puts  them  to  death  in  the  most  cruel  manner. 
Joining  depravity  to  cruelty,  he  elevates  to  the  cardinalate  a 
young  lad  employed  about  his  palace  in  the  double  capacity 
of  keeper  of  the  monkeys  and  minion  to  the  pope. 

Paul  the  Fourth  excites  the  fury  of  the  king  of  France 
against  the  Protestants,  forms  an  execrable  league  for  their 
destruction,  and  fills  all  Europe  with  his  ravages.     At  his 


17 

death  the  Roman  people,  freed  from  his  frightful  yoke,  force 
the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition,  set  fire  to  the  prisons,  knock 
down  the  statue  of  the  pope,  break  off  tlie  head  and  the  right 
hand,  drag  them  during  three  days  through  the  streets  of 
Rome,  and  cast  them  into  the  Tiber. 

COUNCILS  OF  TRENT  CLOSED,  1563. 

Pius  the  Fourth  terminates  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  this 
great  event  does  not  produce  any  sensation  among  tlie  peo- 
ple. This  pontiff,  desirous  of  arresting  the  downfall  of  the 
Holy  See,  excites  the  fanaticism  of  Charles  the  Ninth  and 
Phillip  of  Spain,  and  these  two  princes  meet  at  Bayonne  to 
devise  means  to  exterminate  the  Calvinists. 

The  beginning  of  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  the  Thirteenth 
was  signalized  by  the  most  horrible  of  all  crimes,  the  mas- 
sacre of  Saint  Bartholomew,  an  execrable  plot,  brought 
about  by  the  counsels  of  Spain  and  the  suggestions  of  Pius 
the  Fourth.  Persecutions,  butcheries,  and  wars  had  increas- 
ed astonishingly  the  number  of  Calvinists;  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  that  cruel  and  infamous  Jezebel,  not  being  able  to 
exterminate  them  by  force,  had  resource  to  perfidy.  Charles 
the  Ninth,  accustomed  to  cruelty,  and  furiously  violent, 
adopted  the  criminal  desires  of  his  mother,  and  a  general 
massacre  of  the  Protestants  was  decreed. 

MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW. 

At  midnight,  on  the  eve  of  Saint  Bartholomew,  the  clock 
of  the  palace  gives  the  signal;  the  tocsin  is  rung  at  St.  Ger- 
main's, and  at  its  doleful  sound,  soldiers  surround  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  Protestants,  and  kill  in  their  beds  children  and 
old  men.  They  seize  the  females,  and  after  having  violated 
them,  open  their  wombs  and  draw  out  half-formed  children, 
tear  out  their  hearts,  and  with  savage  ferocity  rend  them 
with  their  teeth  and  devour  them. 

A  thing  almost  incredible,  so  horrible  is  the  action,  oc- 
curred: this  Charles  the  Ninth— this  king,  to  be  execrated  to 
all  ages,  armed  with  an  arquebuss,  fired  from  one  of  the 
windows  of  the  Louvre  upon  the  unfortunate  who  saved 
themselves  by  swimming  the  river.  One  window  still  re- 
mains, an  imperishable  monument  of  the  barbarity  of  kings. 
Gregory  the  Thirteenth  addressed  his  felicitations  to  Charles 
on  the  remarkable  success  of  the  enterprise. 

On  the  death  of  the  pope,  the  cardinal  of  Montalto  entered 
the  conclave,  old,  broken  down,  and  supported  upon  a 
crutch.  The  ambition  of  the  cardinals  concentrated  their 
suffrages  upon  this  old  man,  who  appeared  so  nigh  to  death. 


18 

They  summed  up  the  votes,  and  scarcely  had  half  of  them 
voted,  when,  without  waiting  for  the  conclusion,  Montalto 
cast  his  crutch  into  the  midst  of  the  hall,  drew  himself  up  to 
his  full  height,  and  thundered  forth  the  Te  Deum  with  a 
voice  so  loud  and  clear  that  the  vault  of  the  chapel  resound- 
ed with  it. 

He  becomes  pope,  under  the  name  of  Sextus  the  Fifth. 
Hypocritical  and  inflexible,  he  allies  himself  secretly  with 
Queen  Elizabeth,  the  launches  anathemas  against  her  king- 
dom; he  then  excommunicates  the  king  of  Navarre  and  the 
prince  of  Conde,  in  order  to  revive  in  France  the  forms  of 
fanaticism. 

Clement  the  Seventh  renews  the  proud  scenes  of  his  pre- 
decessors; he  wishes  to  compel  Henry  the  Fourth  to  come  to 
him  in  person,  with  naked  feet,  in  order  to  undergo  a  proper 
discipline,  and  to  learn  that  he  held  his  crown  as  a  gift  from 
the  pope.  But  ambassadors  were  received  in  his  stead,  and 
this  humiliating  ceremony  took  place  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter's,  at  Rome,  in  the  presence  of  the  people. 

Gregory  the  Fifteenth  excites  Louis  the  Thirteenth  to  per- 
secute the  Protestants.  He  renews  the  war  in  Bohemia,  and 
not  bing  able  to  corrupt  the  people  of  Geneva,  orders  the 
duke  of  Savoy  to  destroy  them. 

Under  Urban  the  Eighth,  the  celebrated  Galileo,  that  old 
man  who  had  passed  seventy  years  in  the  study  of  the  secrets 
of  nature,  is  brought  before  the  inquisition,  condemned,  cast 
into  prison,  and  forced  to  retract  this  great  truth,  "that  the 
earth  moves  around  the  sun." 

Clement  the  Ninth,  of  a  lofty  soul  and  prodigious  know^l- 
edge,  encourages  the  arts,  recompenses  savans,  and  sur- 
rounds the  pontifical  throne  with  all  the  lustre  of  the  age. 
He  diminishes  the  imposts,  employs  his  treasures  in  succour- 
ing the  Venetians  and  the  Isle  of  Candia  against  the  infidels; 
he  suppresses  the  religious  orders  which  pressed  heavily  on 
the  people,  and  who  under  the  guise  of  piety,  abandoned 
themselves  to  idleness  and  debauchery. 

By  his  eloquence  and  moderation  he  appeased  the  inter- 
minable quarrels  of  the  Jansenists  and  Mollcnists,  and  ar- 
rested the  ill-regulated  ambition  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth, 
who  was  desolating  Europe  by  his  destructive  wars.  The  in- 
trigues of  the  Jesuits  give  up  to  the  Turks  the  Isle  of  Candia; 
this  generous  pope,  struck  to  the  heart  by  the  treason  of  these 
unworthy  priests,  launches  an  anathema  upon  them,  and 
dies,  after  a  reign  of  three  years.  The  Holy  See  has  never 
been  occupied  by  a  more  virtuous  man  than  Clement  the 
Ninth;  his  memory  should  be  dear  to  Christianity,  and  the 
mind  reposes  in  contemplating  it  from  the  long  catalogue 


19 

of  crimes  which  the  history  of  the  popes  oti'ers  to  us. 

Under  Innocent  the  Eleventh,  the  persecutions  against  the 
Lutherans  and  Calvinisls  recommence;  churches  are  demol- 
ished, cities  destroyed,  eighteen  thousand  Frenchmen  are  put 
to  death,  and  the  Protestants  driven  from  the  kingdom. 

Innocent  the  Eleventh,  as  Gregory  the  Thirteenth  had  done 
on  the  occasion  of  Saint  Bartholomew,  addresses  his  congrat- 
ulations to  the  king  of  France,  and  commands  public  re- 
joicing to  be  made  in  his  honor  at  Rome. 

The  reign  of  Clement  the  Eleventh  is  agitated  by  religious 
quarrels.  The  Jesuits  in  China  are  accused  of  offering  there 
the  same  worship  to  Confucius  as  to  Jesus  Christ.  The  pope 
sends  the  cardinal  Journon  to  Pekin,  charged  to  reform  this 
culpable  idolatry.  This  virtuous  prelate  dies,  a  victim  to  his 
zeal,  in  the  midst  of  the  cruel  persecutions  which  the  Jesuits 
excite  against  him. 

This  terrible  congregation,  encouraged  by  the  pope,  ex- 
tends its  odious  power  over  kingdoms,  and  inspires  terror 
among  all  people. 

Clement  the  Eleventh  publishes  the  famous  bull  Urigenitiis 
which  excites  general  indignation  and  continues  religious 
quarrels  up  to  his  death. 

Benedict  the  Thirteenth  wishes  to  renew  the  scandal  occa- 
sioned by  this  bull  of  disorder;  but  philosophy  now  com- 
mences to  make  progress,  and  his  pretensions,  which  at  other 
times  would  have  caused  torrents  of  blood  to  flow,  only  ex- 
cites contempt. 

The  moderation  of  Benedict  the  Fourteenth  repairs  the 
evils  occasioned  by  his  predecessors.  He  terminates  the  re- 
ligious quarrels,  repulses  the  Jesuits,  moderates  the  bull 
Unigenitiis,  and  puts  an  end  to  the  troubles  which  were  af- 
flicting France.  This  pope,  one  of  the  luminaries  of  the 
church,  carries  into  the  chair  of  the  pontiffs  a  spirit  of  tol- 
eration, which  extends  a  salutary  influence  everywhere.  The 
religion  of  Christ  is  no  longer  imposed  on  the  world  by  per- 
secution and  fanaticism.  Benedict  exhibits,  in  the  high  func- 
tions of  the  priesthood,  an  enlightened  mind,  great  maturity 
of  judgment,  a  profound  wisdom  which  no  passions  trouble, 
a  perfect  disinterestedness,  and  an  extreme  love  of  justice. 

He  reforms  the  morals  of  the  clergy,  suppresses  orders  of 
monks  who  were  odious  to  all,  employs  his  treasures  in 
founding  hospitals,  establishing  public  schools,  and  reward- 
ing magnificently  the  arts.  He  calls  upon  all  to  profit  by  the 
advantages  of  science,  and  to  come  forth  from  the  shades 
of  ignorance. 

Clement  the  Thirteenth  imitates  neither  the  virtues  nor  the 
moderation  of  his  predecessor;  he  openly  protects  th  Jesuits, 


20 

launches  forth  anathemas,  and  prepares  the  ruin  of  the 
Holy  See. 

The  excesses  of  the  Jesuits  had  tired  out  the  people,  their 
crimes  and  their  ambition  affrighted  kings,  universal  hatred 
demands  their  expulsion;  they  are  driven  from  France.  They 
are  banished  from  the  states  of  the  king  of  Spain  in  Europe, 
Asia  and  America;  driven  from  the  two  Sicilies,  Parma  and 
Malta.  The  order  is  exterminated  in  almost  all  the  countries 
which  had  been  the  theatre  of  its  power,  in  the  Philippines, 
Peru,  Mexico,  Paraguay  and  Brazil. 

France  bestows  upon  the  pope  Avignon  and  the  county  of 
Venaisson,  as  an  appurtenance  to  his  crown.  The  king  of 
Naples,  on  the  other  hand,  seized  upon  the  cities  of  Bene- 
vento  and  Ponte  Corvo. 

The  famous  bull  in  Caena  Domini,  a  monument  of  mad- 
ness and  pride,  which  the  popes  yearly  fulminated  from 
Roine  since  the  time  of  Paul  the  Third,  is  proscribed.  The 
pontificial  darkness  commences  to  be  dissipated;  princes 
and  people  no  longer  prostrate  themselves  at  the  feet  of  the 
servant  or  servants  of  God. 

Clement  the  Thirteenth  sees  the  colossal  power  of  Rome 
falling  to  pieces,  and  dies  of  chagrin  in  not  being  able  to  re- 
tard its  fall. 

Clement  the  Fourteenth  causes  philosophy  to  mount  the 
seat  of  the  popes.  For  a  short  period  he  retains  the  pon- 
tifical power  of  the  Holy  See;  his  character  and  moderation 
restoring  to  him  the  power  w^hich  the  absurd  fanaticism  of 
his  predecessors  had  alienated. 

Portugal  broke  with  the  see  of  Rome,  and  wished  to  have 
a  patriarch  of  her  own.  The  courts  of  France,  Spain  and 
Naples  were  indignant  at  the  ridiculous  excommunication  of 
the  duke  of  Parma,  by  the  Holy  See.  Venice  reformed,  with- 
out the  assent  of  the  pope,  the  religious  communities  which 
impoverished  the  nation. 

Poland  wishes  to  diminish  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See. 
Even  Rome  permits  its  indignation  to  shine  forth,  and  ap- 
pears to  have  forgotten  that  she  had  been  mistress  of  the 
world.  Clement,  by  skilful  policy,  and  consummate  wisdom 
and  prudence,  arrests  this  movement;  but  the  priests,  the  en- 
emies of  toleration,  did  not  pardon  the  pontiff,  and  he  died 
of  poison. 

Then  liberty,  that  rock  of  reason,  imparted  its  sublime 
light  to  all  minds;  men  commenced  to  break  the  dark  chains 
of  superstition.  An  universal  discfuiet  manifested  itself  in 
the  masses,  a  happy  presage  of  moral  revolutions. 

Pius  the  Sixth  washes  to  seize  upon  the  wonderful  power 
of  the  pontiffs  of  Rome,  and  pursues  the  execrable  policy  of 


21 

his  predecessors. 

The  Emperor  of  Austria,  Joseph  the  Second,  stops  the  in- 
crease of  convents,  which  threatened  to  overrun  his  king- 
dom, suppresses  bishoprics,  forms  seminaries,  and  protects 
his  state  against  the  rule  of  the  H^ly  See. 

The  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  prepares  the  same  reforms; 
dissolves  the  convents,  abohshes  the  authority  of  the  nuncios, 
and  prohibits  his  priests  from  appeahng  to  Rome  for  judg- 
ment. 

At  Naples,  a  philosophical  minister  takes  from  the  avarice 
of  the  pope  indulgences,  the  collection  of  benefices,  his  nom- 
ination to  vacancies.  He  refuses  the  tribute  of  a  hackney, 
richly  caparisoned,  shod  with  silver,  and  carrying  a  purse  of 
six  thousand  ducats— a  disgraceful  tribute,  which  the  nation 
paid  to  the  pontiff. 

The  sovereign  approves  the  policy  of  his  minister,  prohib- 
its the  introduction  of  bulls  into  his  state,  orders  the  bishops 
to  give  up  the  dispensations  they  had  purchased  at  Rome, 
takes  away  from  the  pope  the  power  of  nominating  bishops 
for  the  two  Sicilies,  and  drives  the  internuncio  "from  his 
kingdom. 

The  French  Revolution  is  at  hand.  The  States  General,  at 
Versailles,  ordain  reforms  in  the  clergy,  abolish  the  mon- 
astic vows,  and  proclaim  liberty  of  conscience. 

The  pope  excites  bloody  troubles  in  Avignon,  in  order  to 
reattach  it  to  the  Holy  See.  His  pretensions  are  repulsed  by 
the  National  Assembly,  which  solemnly  pronounces  the  re- 
union of  this  city  to  France. 

THE  POPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Italy  is  conquered  by  the  French  armies.  Pius  the  Sixth, 
a  coward  and  a  hypocrite,  begs  for  the  alliance  of  the  repub- 
lic. But  the  justice  of  a  great  nation  is  inflexible.  The  assas- 
sination of  General  Dupont  demands  great  reparation.  The 
pontiff  is  carried  from  Rome,  conducted  to  the  fortress  of 
Valence,  and  terminates  his  debased  career  by  cowardice 
and  perfidy. 

The  conclave  assembles  at  Venice.  After  an  hundred  and 
four  days  of  intrique,  the  Benedictine  Chiaramonti  was 
chosen  pope,  under  the  name  of  Pius  the  Seventh. 

The  pontiff  forms  an  alliance  with  the  republic,  and  signs 
the  famous  concordat. 

A  new  era  commences  for  France;  the  republic  gives  place 
to  the  empire,  and  Napoleon  mounts  the  throne.  The  pope 
is  forced  to  go  to  Paris,  in  order  to  consecrate  the  emperor, 
and  augment  the  magnificence  of  this  imposing  ceremony. 
The  weakness  of  character  of  Pius  the  Seventh,  delivers  him 


22 

up  defenceless  to  the  plots  which  the  hatred  of  the  clergy 
contrive  with  the  enemies  of  the  emperor.  Napoleon,  indig- 
nant at  the  machination  directed  against  his  powers  by  the 
counsellors  of  the  pope,  makes  a  decree,  which  changes  the 
government  of  Rome,  declares  the  reunion  of  the  estates  of 
the  church  to  the  empire,  and  the  sovereign  pontiffs  deprivd 
of  temporal  authority. 

The  ancient  boldness  of  the  clergy  has  survived  revolu; 
tions  Pius  the  Seventh  essays  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican. 
The  bull  of  excommunication  is  affixed  during  the  night  in 
the  streets  of  Rome;  it  calls  the  people  to  revolt,  excites 
them  to  carnage,  and  designates  the  French  for  public  ven- 
geance. But  Rome,  delivered  from  the  sacerdotal  yoke,  is 
deaf  to  the  appeal  of  fanaticism. 

Wars  succeed  in  Europe,  kingdoms  are  conquered,  old 
governments  overthrown,  and  Napoleon  at  length  falls  be- 
neath the  blows  of  the  kings  whom  he  has  crowned.  His  ca- 
tastrophe changes  the  destinies  of  nations,  and  restore  to  the 
pope  the  inheritance  of  St.  Peter. 

Pius  the  Seventh  makes  a  triumphal  entree  into  Rome, 
and  at  length  dies,  surrounded  by  cardinals,  in  the  pomp  and 
magnificence  of  power. 

Since  him,  three  popes  have  occupied  the  chair  of  St, 
Peter,  but  their  silent  passage  marks  no  place  in  the  history 
of  nations. 

The  proud  pontiffs,  who  launched  anathemas  on  king- 
doms, gave  or  took  away  empires,  extended  over  the  people 
the  yoke  of  fanaticism  and  terror,  now,  protected  by  Austria, 
protected  by  the  oppressors  of  the  people,  basely  seek  the 
protection  of  kings,  in  order  to  tramples  upon  the  Romans, 
and  maintain  upon  their  head  the  pontifical  tiara. 

People  of  Italy,  arise  from  your  lethargic  slumber — con- 
template the  capitol — recall  the  remembrance  of  ancient 
Rome  and  her  glorious  destiny!  Let  but  your  legions  arouse, 
and  the  shades  of  the  great  will  march  at  their  head  to  con- 
quer in  the  name  of  liberty. 


The  foregoing  sketch  ends  with  a  fervent  prayer  which 
glorious  events  answered  in  1870.  To  maintain  the  despotic 
and  corrupt  rule  of  priests.  Pope  Pius  IX.  had  called  to  his 
aid  the  armies  of  Austria  and  of  France;  and  torrents  of 
Italian  blood  soaked  the  soil  of  Italy  in  the  vain  efforts  of 
the  people  to  establish  a  government  independent  of  clerical 
despotism.      When    Napoleon    III,    was    compelled    by    the 


23 

Franco-Prussian  War  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  Rome, 
the  Temporal  Power  of  the  popes — originally  established  by 
soldiers  from  France — fell  to  the  ground — let  us  hope,  for- 
ever! 

It  had  its  birth  in  unholy  conquest  of  Lombard  lands;  it 
had  caused  Italy  to  be  invaded  by  foreign  armies  twenty-six 
times;  it  had  occasioned  infinite  woes  to  mankind,  and  it  had 
fostered  in  the  popes  the  most  un-Christian  vices  and  crimes. 

Pope  Pius  IX.  was  succeeded  by  Leo  XIII.,  whose  subtle 
diplomacy  did  a  vast  deal  to  re-establish  the,  moral  prestige 
of  the  Roman  church. 

Leo  was  succeeded  by  Pius  X.,  a  commonplace  man;  and 
he  by  the  present  nonentity,  Benedict  XV. 

The  Jesuits  are  in  full  control  of  the  Papacy,  and  the  Gen- 
eral of  that  order  really  rules  the  Pope  and  the  Church. 


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